Now What?

Lent 2012 was a wonderful experience.

At Vintage, we spent time thinking about how we are free in the Spirit. The things that have mastered us in the past don't have to master us now. We can reimagine our lives. We can break out of our rut and live differently. Lent gives us a 40-day opportunity to experiment with this freedom.

For me personally, I gave up alcohol during the 40 days of Lent. I joked that every couple of years I need to remind myself that I am not an alcoholic. But it is actually really important to remember that even the good things can easily become a master. I want to have no master but Jesus.

Sometimes Lent is dark, but not this year. This year it was an energizing time for me. It was kind of fun.

And so was Easter. I love Easter. I love my annual Cadbury Egg. I love the annual kids' sermon at Vintage, even though I joke that I don't. I love how loud the band is on Easter Sunday. I love hanging with my friends and celebrating life together.

So this morning, I am wondering "now what?" Lent was such an intentional time full of conscious thought about the choices I was making. I couldn't coast through Lent, and I didn't. And I don't want to go back to coasting through my life. However, I also don't want to immediately enter into another prolonged spiritual experiment. My soul needs some downtime.

What do I do now that Easter is over? I think Jesus provides the answer - I live. Easter is about life, how great life is, how life is what God intended for us. And so the best thing I can do now is be fully alive. I need to live.

I love my wife.
I laugh with my kids.
I have lunch with my friends.
I get my work done with as much excellence as I can.
I write.
I watch the sunset and my favorite TV shows.
I spend some time with my neighbors.
I attempt to spread grace and justice.
I am alive.

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Holy Week: Window in the Skies

The rule has been disproved
The stone it has been moved
The grave is now a groove
All debts are removed

Happy Easter, everybody





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Holy Week: Wake Up Dead Man

God is dead.





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Holy Week: Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

You broke the bonds and you loosed the chains
Carried the cross, took my shame, took the pain
You know I believe it
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for





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Holy Week: Until the End of the World

On Maundy Thursday, Jesus shared a meal with his disciples, washed their feet, and taught them how to love. I'm quite fond of the way U2 tells the story.





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Holy Week: Yahweh

On this day during Holy Week, Jesus was anointed by a woman who lavished her most expensive perfume upon him. Her actions are a reminder that everything we have must be offered to our God.





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Holy Week: One

On Tuesday of Holy Week, Jesus spent a lot of time teaching. During these final lessons, he was asked by a man about which is the greatest commandment. His answer - Love. "Love the higher law."





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Holy Week: When Love Comes to Town

I am going to blog Holy Week this year with U2 videos that capture the destiny, the angst, the hope of what Jesus did for us. I'm a little late getting started, but in honor of Palm Sunday, here is When Love Comes to Town.





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Blogging Lent

As a part of my intentional Lenten journey, I've started a blog for Vintage called Blogging Lent. For those of you few Grenzophiles out there, you may find me more at Blogging Lent than here for the next 40 days or so. I hope you'll visit.

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Of Beer and God, or ...

What I Learned During Lent

Many, but probably not all, of you know that I gave up beer for Lent. I decided to do this after Vanessa announced to me that she was doing it, which sounded strange to me since she drinks like one beer every two weeks. But I thought it sounded like a good idea. So, Fat Tuesday became Drunk Tuesday for me as I consumed all the beer we had in the fridge (four and a half bottles), and I swore it off for 40some odd days.

All in all, it was no big deal for me. A couple of times during Lent I thought a beer sounded good, but I was never tempted to run out to Fiesta Liquors and break my fast. A couple of times I was with friends who had beers, but they didn't pressure me to break my fast. (They did shake their heads at me and snicker a little bit, but I didn't mind.) I successfully went through Lent sans beer. And I think I learned a couple of valuable lessons.

First - and this may seem strange initially, but - I learned that I am not an alcoholic. And I think that is a valuable thing to learn. I like beer. [Insert your Homer Simpson joke here.] I like beer a lot. I like the taste. I like the comradere of drinking it with friends. I like the small buzz I get when I drink four and a half on Fat Tuesday. But I can live without it. And that's a good thing. It does not master me. I am not obsessed or addicted. Jesus is my master. His church is my obsession. And I think that's a pretty powerful thing to be reminded of.

Second - and this is an everything-I-need-to-know-I-learned-in-kindergarten kind of thing, but - I learned that sometimes it is just good to say no. I try to teach my kids that all the time. You don't have to have another piece of candy or watch TV or play on the computer. Sometimes it's good just to say no and learn that life goes on even if I don't get what I want. And for 40 days, life went on without me drinking beer. I still laughed and slept and worked and talked and prayed and served and did everything else I do.

So, that's what I did on my lenten vacation from beer. But it's not Lent anymore. It's Easter. Jesus is alive, and I am going to celebrate him and life this afternoon with a leftover turkey sandwich and some Masters golf and a tall glass of Shiner Bock. Here's to Jesus.